


Between the Silence

by dechaltier



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Five Stages of Grief, Gen, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 23:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18020282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dechaltier/pseuds/dechaltier
Summary: Eizen lives on as Edna remembers him. She copes in silent moments.





	Between the Silence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [welzes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/welzes/gifts).



> For Jae, my lovely Eizen, whose passion rivals that of the hapless earth malak she roleplays. Please accept this humble gift from your dearest little sister.

**denial**

They are not fragile and foolish like humans, yet he insisted on living as they do—to eat, to sleep, to live under a roof. Edna wondered how long this phase would last.

Eizen returned to her, overcoat tattered at the hem and fists bloodied, but lips turned upwards in a half-cocked smile. Judging the bounty of wheat and tea leaves he carried, it was one of a victor.

“I’m back.”

She sat not an inch from where he left her hours ago, expression severe. Her eyes widened ever-so slightly—what she would claim to be a trick of the light—when he approached, and she let out a huff.

“It's not proper to keep a lady waiting.”

She slid off her perch and started towards him, reaching not for the ingredients he triumphantly possessed but to instead rest her small hands beneath his larger ones. As her fingers met the rough fabric of his gloves, she mumbled something under her breath. An illuminated glyph appeared and the neglected scratches on his exposed skin vanished with the soft touch of light.

Then, once the glyph evanesced, she pivoted around and crossed her arms as if it had never happened at all.

"Remember not to use too much sugar.”

When she said this would be the last time she would allow him to make her palmiers, she did not actually mean it.

~*~

“Miss Edna, won’t you have a snack to keep your strength up? Building that foundation must have been quite tiresome.”

There she goes again, invading her personal space. It really would do the fire seraph good to work on her personality. Nonetheless, Edna snatches a cookie and Lailah looks genuinely surprised despite having offered in the first place.

“What do you think?”

“No good,” says Edna with a dismissive wave of her hand. “It’s far too sweet.”

 

**anger**

She said nothing about the missing gald from her prickleboar bank.

She tolerated him bringing home old junk he touted as relics.

She even adhered to his strict bedtime curfew.

But _this_?

“That’s the third time you’ve been targeted this week. It isn’t safe for you to stay near my domain.”

Edna grasped the ladle in her hand so tightly her knuckles turned white. The stew behind her began to boil.

“I know how to heal,” she replied impassively, though the grip she maintained betrayed her even tone. “I can handle it.”

Eizen shook his head. “Just healing isn’t enough. You need to be capable of a wide range of self-defense malak artes.”

Edna knew her older brother would never risk her safety, so she appealed to him in a different manner: “Then teach me.”

The next day, Eizen led her to a clearing in the woods and began instructing her. Albeit long-winded, his explanations were clear and easy for Edna to understand, and—true to her name—she caught on very quickly. Not wanting her to push her limits, however, Eizen advised a break.

“… You did well today.” He avowed with an emphatic nod, arms crossed.

She presented him a rare smile in return—enough to catch him off guard. Relief shone in her eyes as she stared up at him.

“See, you were with me the whole time and nothing bad happened.”

But before Eizen could even open his mouth, Edna felt claws sink into her shoulders and the heavy beating of wings drowned out his reply.

~*~

“Edna, you don’t have to be so rough!” Mikleo yelps as her umbrella digs into his back. He would have a bruise there on his delicate skin tomorrow—a lesson well learned for criticizing her teaching methods.

“I thought you wanted to learn defensive seraphic artes.”

“Well yes, but you aren’t giving me much of a chance!”

“Aren’t I, Meebo? Besides…” she allows only a moment’s pause in which the water seraph takes to sidestep her reach and rub the tender spot. What a Weepbo.

“Hellions won’t be so kind.”

 

**bargaining**

“Don’t make that face. I already knew we’d have to say goodbye soon.”

Edna did not cry despite the trembling in her chest. She wished her brother would stop looking at her that way.

“Before I go, I have something for you.” 

Eizen leaned down and gingerly tied a ribbon around her neck. Feeling a newfound heaviness just above her sternum, Edna placed a hand there and her fingers soon found the curvature of a pendant. Though sanded and polished, she could recognize the material as the same stone from the sacred mountain where they were born. He taught her as much.

“It’s a good luck charm,” he explained, though they both knew that the true fortuity would come only after being separated, outside the reach of the Reaper’s Curse. 

“Well, bye.”

“Wait,” Edna reached out to take his hand but managed to grab only his pinky. “I have something for you, too.”

She pressed a pendant made in the exact same shape into his palm. When Eizen saw it, they shared a knowing look, a confirmation of their familial bonds. Nothing else could explain their uncanny connection. Perhaps there was some credence to the way humans lived after all.

“Open it.” Eizen heeded her instructions and bit his cheek to keep his emotion in check. Edna felt it, too. She swallowed the sentiment until it settled in the pit of her stomach.

“This way,” she motioned towards the self-portrait she had placed inside, “I’ll always be with you. Don’t lose it.”

“I’ll treasure it. Always.”

~*~

“Blessed by the Lady of the Lake herself. It must be my lucky day!”

The young militant carrying a wooden carving with delight narrowly misses Edna’s toes as he makes his way through the crowd, but she manages to avoid what could have been a painful encounter—at least for her. Yet another reason she detests humans.

“And that’s how you make a deal!” Rose’s lips quirk upwards into crafty smile as she counts her earnings. Lailah looks somewhat troubled; Dezel only sighs.

“No,” replies Edna to no one in particular, feeling oddly sympathetic as her eyes follow the young militant to witness him presenting the parting gift to his little sister. “That’s how you get swindled.”

 

**depression**

“ _I don’t care if it’s dangerous_ ,” she penned in earnest soon after his departure. “ _I want to be with you._ ”

A reply never came. 

Seasons had passed before she one day felt a familiar shift in the land. She froze in that very spot, grip loosening on her umbrella handle.

He stood before her as if he had never left at all.

“B-Big Brother…”

“… Edna.”

He approached slowly through the gathering crowd, maintaining a slight distance. Edna could no longer hold in her tears. Even rocks crumble, after all.

But their reunion was curtailed when one by one the humans were overcome by malevolence, going berserk in their newly unfettered daemon forms. Although Eizen tried to intervene, they lunged at Edna mercilessly. Despite the pain, she had but one thought:

‘ _At least I was able to see you again, Big Brother._ ’

“𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱!”

Through the white fog, she was able to make out his dark silhouette. The earth seemed to roar before everything went silent. As he carried her away, she asked hazily, “Where are we going?”

“You’re moving to Rayfalke Spiritcrest,” he answered. His choice of wording was not lost on her.

~*~

“Edna! So this is where you’ve been.” Sorey’s mantle contrasts the evening sky. He joins her without asking permission but she supposes she will allow it. He is the Shepherd, after all. 

He rambles on enthusiastically about some ruins she could not care less about, and then—“I can’t wait to go back to Izuchi and tell everyone about our adventures.” How is it possible for a human to grin so much anyway? “Gramps, Shaun, Medea… I’ll introduce you to everyone! We’re all one big family!”

Edna flinches. Sorey’s expression grows solemn.

“We’ll find a way to save your brother.”

She lets the moment pass in silence before opening her umbrella and holding a palm towards the sky. Her vision blurs.

“Feels like rain…”

“Really?” Sorey looks surprised as his eyes wander to the stars above. “But it’s not cloudy at all!” 

Edna is already walking away.

 

**acceptance**

The flow of time is different for malakhim who are always cursed with farewells—not that Edna would know, as she spent the vast majority her days in solitude. 

“ _Visit me_ ,” she dared to write once after several hundred years when his letters stopped coming. “ _I won’t make you stay_.”

By the time she got enough nerve to send it, a dragon had begun circling the peak of the mountain. The malevolence it wrought was stifling—but for a brief, dizzying moment, she thought she felt Eizen too.

Part of her wanted to embrace the darkness to ease her loneliness; however, she soon felt the familiar pull of another’s blessing. When she bothered to look up, the charm on her umbrella gazed at her with the same blank stare. 

Not long after, she noticed a glimmer in dirt where the dragon had touched down. Although its shape was worn and the picture had faded, her heart clenched in recognition.

“… Welcome home, Big Brother.”

~*~

“Make no mistake, Eizen was saved.” Zaveid asserts. “He’s sailing uncharted seas now.”

The wind seraph lingers momentarily. Edna clips her umbrella shut and kneels at her brother’s grave.

“Zaveid,” she says suddenly. “Pour me a drink later. Eizen’s favorite.”

“You got it, little lady.” She can feel the gentle breeze of his domain as he returns to the rest of the party. 

In the silence, Edna retrieves her brother's old letters but leaves them tucked away in their envelopes. She has no need to reread them, for she has memorized the contents of every single one—from the minutest curves of his lettering to his atrocious mistakes in grammar. She sits alone with her memories, calling to mind every word, every exchange, every moment. But most of all, she remembers Eizen for who he was—her brother.

Her tears eventually run dry. Edna already knew Eizen had been gone long ago but only now is she ready.

“… Goodbye, Big Brother.”

She places a single flower atop his grave, a splash of bright red among the umber earth.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ll never not be salty about the “Siblings” sidequest being optional, but gracious little me can be a _smidge_ more forgiving with all the bittersweet anecdotes provided in _Tales of Berseria_ through Eizen's perspective. Thus this was my attempt at reconciling that gap for Edna, who grieves in silence.


End file.
